St. Viator picks up intensity in victory

St. Viator was a bit flat in its 1-point victory over Joliet Catholic on Friday night, but the Lions more than made up for it on Saturday night against Northridge Prep.

The Viator (15-4) defense rose to the occasion in baffling Northridge's patience offense en route to a 41-31 victory before an enthusiastic crowd at Cahill Gym in Arlington Heights.

The Lions made a statement right off the bat with a sticky man-to-man defense holding Northridge to 23 percent shooting (3-for-13) en route to a 23-7 halftime lead.

"We had a tough one last night and we didn't play well," said Viator coach Joe Majkowski, whose team matched last season's win total. "But I thought our kids responded tonight."

Senior Alan Aboona (10 points), senior Jack Etchingham (8 points), and Richard Markovits (8 points) supplied the energy for the Lions.

"Coach kind of questioned our confidence, we weren't playing good defense," said Etchingham, who also added 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists, and 1 block. "We had a little more energy tonight."

Senior Danny Muench and junior Cameron Korab came off the bench to give a spark as the Lions increased its lead to 19 points late in the third.

But Northridge Prep (5-13) used a 7-0 run capped by Viator transfer Mike Leazer's 3 to narrow the deficit to 31-22 with 5:31 to play.

Aboona nailed a 3 and senior Brendan King (6 points) followed with two in helping the Lions nail down the victory. Robert Rey led the Knights with 10 points and 6 rebounds.

"With that type of pressure we should have been able to get some backdoors," said Northridge coach Will Rey, "We were able to get a couple but not enough."